Ouran High School Host Club, Volume 01: 04/16/12

Last year Ian and I watched the anime series Ouran High School Host Club. Having enjoyed the series I decided to go back to the source and read the manga by Bisco Hatori.

Volume One introduces most of the major characters and sets up the comedy. It begins with Haruhi looking for a place to study and stumbling onto the Host Club held in Music Room Three. There's just one slight problem: they all think she's a he and after she accidentally breaks an expensive vase she has to spend the rest of her school career repaying the debt by acting as one of their hosts.

One thing that differs with the manga from the anime is that Haruhi's choice of outfit is more quickly established, as well as her unusual home life. I think it works better in the anime to have the full reason revealed well after Haruhi as a member of the Host Club is established. It turns "cross-dressing is funny" into "it's good to be yourself."

The anime condenses things down so that the jokes hit quickly. Volume one is so busy setting up the situation that it doesn't let any of the jokes linger either. Unfortunately volume two had some pacing issues which I will address in that review.

Five stars

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